Automobiles and other vehicles are commonly transported between their initial manufacturing location and a final distribution location. These vehicles are often transported by the use of railroad cars or haulways. Transport railroad car systems and haulways or tractor trailer systems often incorporate multilevel auto rack systems including double-deck and triple-deck rail cars having various storage capacities.
It is known that these multilevel auto rack systems are constructed to leave as little excess space surrounding the vehicles to be transported as possible. In utilizing these vehicle carriers, it is necessary for a service person to drive the vehicles directly into the rail cars. The service person must then exit the vehicle and leave the vehicle carrier enclosure. It is necessary for the driver to exit the vehicle through the driver side door.
At this point, accidental door edge chips, dents and scratches are often created on the edges of the vehicle doors upon the driver's exit. These accidental damages are amplified by the fact that the vehicle carriers, as stated previously, are constructed to leave a minimal amount of unused space surrounding the vehicle.
It is thus desirable to employ some form of shock absorbent protector within the inside of the vehicle carrier enclosure to protect the vehicle doors from damage upon driver exit. Planar sections of shock absorbent foam are used in the industry. These shock absorbent foam sections are often glued directly to various impact surfaces of the vehicle carrier enclosure.
Problems exist in application of these foam sections to the vehicle carrier enclosure. Vehicle carriers are manufactured by numerous different rail car companies. As such, each vehicle enclosure is often different in structure, even though designed for transportation of identical vehicles. Most vehicle carriers include perforated side screens or side walls, vertical columns for supporting first, second and third decks, and structural cross supports further adding to the overall structural integrity of the vehicle rail cars. All the above structures provide impact surfaces for vehicle doors to strike upon driver exit.
Vehicle manufacturers or vehicle rail car owners commonly attempt to insure protection of the vehicles during transportation, by applying foam sections to various locations. One uniform pre-cut section of foam will not operate to protect all the various locations.
Attachment of planar foam sections to perforated side screen walls is very difficult due to the lack of adhesion of the foam to those portions of the perforated side wall having ventilation apertures. In addition, the perforated side screen walls are often constructed with continuous corrugation for added strength. Application of foam sections to these side wall sections is very difficult because of the angled corrugations.
In addition, application of foam sections to most impact surfaces is extremely difficult in cold temperatures as the adhesive required to affix a foam section to the impact surfaces operates poorly in cold temperatures. In addition, all impact surfaces must be free of dust and dirt which also hinders the fastening capabilities of the adhesives utilized.
Direct application of the foam sections to the side screens is also difficult utilizing common fasteners. As stated, the configuration of the side walls not only includes a plurality of equally spaced perforations for ventilation, but each row of parallel perforations is disposed upon alternating crests and valleys forming a corrugated wall section. Attempting to use common fasteners in cooperation with the perforations is difficult because of angled relationship of the perforations within the side wall.
Bi-level rail cars require protection from door edge chips due to contact with the corrugated side wall sections of the rail car, vertical support braces, and cross brace structural supports disposed at various locations along the rail car. Tri-level vehicle carriers not only require protection for the previous three areas, but also require protection along the roof rail section where side wall sections of the rail car meet the curved inner portion at the roof of the rail car.
Prior art solutions do not adequately meet the problems discussed above. U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,903 to Strassner, issued Feb. 25, 1986, discloses an automobile dent protection system for use in prevention of dents or scratches when a vehicle is parked in a regular parking space in a garage, carport or the like. An oversized pad is suspended from overhead in a location near the car, or between two adjacent cars for prevention of scratches induced by adjacent cars.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,697 to Hinojos, issued Mar. 20, 1984, discloses a retractable automobile side guard. The retractable automobile side guard device includes first and second telescoping assemblies which are extendable from first and second tubular housings attached to the bottom of an automobile. Each telescoping assembly includes a first member which, when fully extended from the tubular housing, pivots and is locked into an upright position and a second member which, when fully extended from the first member, pivots to a horizontal position and engages a like member from the other telescoping mechanism, thereby forming a side rail. The side rail prevents damage to the finish of the door panels and side panels of the automobile when other vehicle doors are open.
With particular reference to freight cars, U.S. Pat. No. 1,126,243 to McQouwn, issued Jan. 26, 1915, discloses a freight car attachment comprising a pad which is adapted to be secured to the end walls of a freight car. Flexible hinges are disposed on the pad to secure the pad to the freight car as a means for hanging the pad from the roof of the freight car.